3 AM
by 1001Characters
Summary: Red takes the long way home. Liz is not impressed.
1. Chapter 1

**Just a little something that popped in my head, while I was working out "Worlds Away... "**

**3 AM**

It was like clockwork.

Every night for the past two weeks her eyes popped open. It was always 3am. And she'd always been dreaming of him.

Not bothering with a robe, Liz padded down the hall in his tee shirt. She'd found it mixed in with her laundry. It smelled of him, so she hadn't washed it. She hated herself for that, but not as much as on the nights she gave in and slept in it. Liz had hated herself a lot in the last two weeks.

She walked through her darkened apartment not bothering to turn on any lights. She was comfortable here now and could finally move around without tripping over something.

Liz had left her home with Tom more than a year ago, when all of Red's warnings about him had come true. She would have burned the place down if Dembe hadn't stopped her. He helped her move instead.

She rounded the doorway into the kitchen. A cool glass of water, a mental review of why she hates Raymond Reddington and she should be able to get back to sleep. Work came early in the morning.

Liz reached for the light switch along the wall when a hand shot out to grab her wrist. Caught off guard, things moved in a blur before she found herself breathless, pressed back against the refrigerator, Red completely invading her space.

"Hello, Lizzie," he purred near her ear, placing a gentle kiss at the base of her neck.

Liz moaned arching into him. She felt Red smile against her neck and adjust his stance, wanting to get closer. Just then Liz shifted bringing her knee up sharply between his legs. He released her with a hiss, steadying himself on the nearby counter. Liz danced out of his reach, a satisfied smirk on her lips.

"Dammit, Lizzie," he bit out as he straightened himself.

"That is for thinking you can disappear for three weeks and just show up in the middle of the night with your dick in your hand." Liz paused, refusing to cry infront of him. "Where the hell have you been?"

Still reigning in his ire, Red removed his jacket and hat, setting them both on the table. He casually began rolling up his sleeves taking even breaths.

"Things became... complicated in Jakarta. Dembe and I were compelled to take the long way home."

Liz wanted to hit him again. "So when it became obvious that you wouldn't be back in two days like you promised, you didn't think to call?"

Red moved closer, his voice dropping to that deep tenor that never failed to affect her. "You are all I think about, Lizzie. Which is what nearly got me killed."

Letting out a sigh, he moved closer still. She wasn't ready to be touched, but she was listening. "My contact knew more about our relationship than I thought comfortable. He needed to be... persauded to keep what he thought he knew to himself. Needless to say his people didn't appreciate my methods of persausion."

So he'd killed again. In her name. Unable to stop the tears, Liz swiped at her face. "I can't do this," she murmured, moving past him out of the kitchen.

"Lizzie." Red turned following her toward the bedroom. "Elizabeth."

He stopped just inside the doorway and she dropped to the edge of the bed. The silence stretched out between them. Red wanted to hold her, kiss her and beg her forgiveness; promise her he'd never leave her that way again. His eyes roaming over her, he noticed the tenseness of her shoulders and the grim set of her lips and stayed where he was.

"I'm not naive," she said after a while. "I knew who and what I was getting when I got involved with you. Still I didn't think you'd treat me like a well kept whore while you went on an international killing spree."

His worry over Liz's anger evaporated as his own cracked through his blood pushing him forward. Latching onto her forearms, Red hauled her up to face him. His jaw clenched tight, his green eyes sparkling in the dim moonlight filtering through the parted curtains.

"Everything I have done has been to protect you. I'm sorry if my methods are distasteful to you, Lizzie. And I've been with whores," he said bluntly. "I certainly wouldn't risk my life to spend one more day in her presence or give up the only life I've known for decades just to see her smile. You. Are. Not. My Whore, Lizzie."

Tears still flowing, Liz met his anger head on. She's been wanting this ever since they'd begun their relationship after having sex on Frederick Hemstead's couch the night Tom had been arrested. She wanted to see him, talk to him without all his carefully crafted masks and coverstories in place. She'd gotten involved with Red, but it was Raymond Liz wanted.

"Then what am I? A diversion? A complication you can't see your way out of just yet? You barged into my life and pushed and manipulated until there was no one left but you. You have all of me, Raymond and I have this tee shirt."

The last of his control slipping, his hands went immediately to her cotton covered hips, pulling her to him. Touching his forehead to hers, his voice came out in a ragged whisper. "You've always had all of me. There was no one for me to push out, because it was always you, Lizzie. I love you."

Nearly 10 months as her lover, longer than that in his mind and he'd never said the words. She's told him the same repeatedly and always accepted his lovemaking as reciprocation. Red had much to make up for.

"Ray," she sobbed and he met her with a lingering kiss. His lips sliding across hers. Her arms encirling his neck. Coming up for air, Red held her close.

"I love you," he whispered into her hair. "You're a permanent diversion from this hellish life I've led. A beautiful complication to my lonely existance." Red pulled back, cupping her face in his hands. "Jakarta was the last of it, Lizzie. I've tied up all loose ends... all but one."

Liz shook her head. "Please, Ray, no more bloodshed."

"It isn't about death, my love. This is about life; our life. Do you remember when we first met, I told you if anyone could give me a second chance it was you?"

"Yes." Her dark eyes searched his. Gone was the glittering anger. They shone bright green now with worry and hope.

"Well how about it, Lizzie? Give this old reprobate a second chance at life. Marry me, love? I haven't got a ring, but I know this wonderful antique jeweler in Vienna. A quaint place situated right below a_"

"Raymond," Liz interrupted bubbling with barely concealed laughter. "Has anyone ever told you you talk to much?"

Grabbing the front of his vest, she pulled his lips down to hers kissing him eagerly. Breaking their kiss, Red slid his lips along the column of her neck.

"The answer is yes, by the way," she whispered.

He chuckled. "I surmised as much when I received a kiss instead of a knee to the groin... again."

Grinning, Liz stepped back toward the bed. He watched with hungry eyes as she pulled his shirt over her head, nothing but a few scraps of silk between them. Red lost his vest and shirt in quick succession. His hands going to his belt buckle as he pushed her back onto the bed. He divested himself of the rest of his clothing and climbed onto the bed covering her with his body. Suddenly he stopped, reaching over to grab her cellphone off the bedside table.

"Red, what_ Are you sending a text message? Who are you texting?"

Red kissed her quickly. "Dembe. He's been in the car this entire time."

"What? Why?"

Pressing send, Red turned back to her. "I honestly didn't know if you'd say yes," he muttered pulling her panties down her slender legs. "Dembe was part of the contingency plan."

"Which was?"

Shaking his head, Red moved her legs apart settling himself against her center. He rocked once sending chills of anticipation through them both.

"Red, why was Dembe here?"

Raising himself up, Red tilted his head, regarding her with a smirk. "Elizabeth, my dear, has anyone ever told you you ask entirely too many questons?"

He silenced her words of protest with his mouth as he slide inside her. They both moaned at the pleasure of being together again.

Dembe, his fear of losing her, her insecurities were all forgotten as they loved one another long into the morning.


	2. 3 AM Part II: Ring Around the Rosie

**This started as a oneshot too... smh**

**3 AM Part II**

A week later they were in Vienna.

Red stood in the front room of their suite of the Hotel Sacher. Pulling his phone away from his ear, Red looked back toward the bath. Liz had left the door slightly ajar and he could just make out the curve of her shapely leg jutting out of the tub. He took a step in her direction, but pulled back, distracted by the terse chatter in his ear.

"Harold, Harold... please with the threats we both know you haven't the means nor the heart to follow through on. I've left you a virtual how-to for the next three Blacklisters. That should keep you occupied until our return. Don't worry, Harold, our favorite profiler is safe with me."

Just then Liz's voice drifted out to him. "Ray... I need you."

Muttering a distracted reply to Cooper's rant, Red ended the call and hurried toward the bath. Stopping in the door way, Red leaned against the frame. He folded his arms across his chest and let his eyes roam over his woman. She relaxed in the large porcelain tub with her head laid back, a small smile playing at her lips.

Red marveled at her beauty and his good fortune. That this angel loved him. Despite his past, his flaws, all the paranoia and idiosyncrencies that persisted because of the life he's led. She loved him openly and without apology.

His chest tightened at the memory of Liz standing eye to eye with Harold Cooper in the Post Office war room, her colleagues looking on as she declared her love for their former No.4. "His businesses are legitimate and so are we," she'd said taking his hand. "You don't have to like it, but you will respect it." And Red hadn't thought it was possible to love her more.

He came back to himself to find her smiling at him. Returning the gesture, Red sat on the edge of the tub. He dipped his hand beneath the water. His fingers played at the bubbles covering her in some very suggestive places. Liz found his hand beneath the water and tugged him closer. Bracing himself, Red leaned forward kissing her softly.

"You called, my dear? Something about needing me."

"I forgot my towel," she said sheepishly.

He chuckled, pulling away from her to grab the oversize towel from the hook behind him. Standing up he held the towel open.

"Come here, Lizzie," he purred, openly leering at her.

Liz laughed as she stood up in the tub, stepping carefully over the edge. She heard his sharp intake of breath.

"You are glorious," he whispered admiring her naked form and the way the water and suds slide down her body.

Her eyes on his, Liz walked into the towel. Red's arms enveloped her quickly. Their lips met in a lingering kiss and the world fell away as Red and Liz indulged in one another. She still tasted of the strawberries they'd had for breakfast. She made him hungry all over again.

"Ray," she whispered as he kissed his way down her neck, his hands drying her with the towel. "Raymond, don't we have somewhere to be in an hour?"

He held her closer, not lifting his head, or stopping his ministrations. "Lizzie, please, I'm busy."

She threw her head back and laughed. Her arms went around his neck and she felt Red's deep chuckle as he pulled the towel from between them.

An afternoon tryst later, Red and Liz strolled down the Plankengasse arm and arm, leaning into one another. Liz loved these times with Red, where he shared funny and interesting antidotes about their surroundings. More and more they came intertwined in memories of his childhood, his time in the Navy and even his years with his wife. He was opening up to her more and Liz was loving it; loving him.

"Harold phoned earlier," he commented nonchalantly.

Liz smiled, she knew her agreement to stay in contact with her boss while they were gone had irked him, especially after the stance she had taken at the Post Office. But for now she was still a Federal Agent and Red allowed her to keep her promise to her understandably leery superior.

"How did that go?"

"Oh the usual way," he murmured, leading her through the streets of Vienna. "He threatened, I mocked, we both agreed you are the most important part of this equation."

Liz shook her head. It amused her how Red and Cooper bickered. She knew there was a history between them Red hadn't found occasion to share yet.

"And what did you promise him this time?"

Red stopped walking and pulled Liz into a serious kiss. He was not skittish about public displays of affection. She was breathless when he pulled away.

"I promised him to wrap you in silk and diamonds and keep you very close to me," he whispered. "We've got the silk," he noted running his warm hands over the soft facbric of her dress, "now let's see if we can scare you up some diamonds."

Smiling, Liz followed his gaze toward a large stone building; Dorotheum etched across the front.

"What is this place?"

"My quaint little Viennese jeweler," he quipped.

"Ray, this place is bigger than our hotel."

Laughing at her wonder, Red took her hand and lead her inside. They were barely through the door when an older gentleman of slight build came forward, greeting Red warmly.

"My dear, this is Renate. The curator here. Renate this amazingly beautiful woman is my fiancé, Elizabeth." Red never let go of her hand, but stood back in unmistakable pride while the man gushed over her beauty.

"Oh you are classic," Renate exclaimed, "and obviously one to reckon with to have brought this rascal up to scratch."

"Thank you," Liz said on a laugh as Red smirked.

"Renate... my lady, needs something beautiful and delicate."

Smiling broadly, the older man led her and Red to an ornately but warmly decorated sitting room. For the next hour, Red had priceless rings, some with royal origins laid before her. He stopped her protests over the small fortune he was about to spend with a soft kiss.

"I love you, Lizzie, no price is too high."

She touched his face, momentarily forgetting they weren't alone. "I love you, Raymond Reddington."

Sometime later they walked out into the sunshine, grinning broadly and stopping every few feet to share a kiss. Red raised her hand to admire her choice. It was among the last ones Renate had shown them. Her eyes had went to it instantly. He would never forget her reaction when Renate allowed him to slip it on her finger. It was a perfect fit and she cried.

Standing in the sun, a block from their hotel, Red bent his head and kissed the asscher fashioned platinum casing set with a large ruby surrounded by tiers of smaller cut rubies and diamonds. She said the tiers of rubies and diamonds represented how they fit together and met in the center, their love burning bright Red.

The vibrating of Red's phone broke thier spell. He slipped his arm around her shoulders leading them back toward the hotel.

"Dembe, how soon can you be... Dembe, I can't understand you. Where are you?"

His lungs pumping as he darted through the streets of Vienna some 10 minutes away, Dembe repeated himself. "Run, Raymond, they are coming."

Not bothering to ask who, Red let the phone fall to the ground. "Lizzie, we've got to go," he said urgently. Taking her hand he led her in the opposite direction.

Liz tightened her grip on his hand. "Ray, what's going on? Where's Dembe?"

"Trouble's coming, Lizzie. Dembe knows where to met us."

All of her questions were forgotten when a black SUV screeched to a halt across from them, armed men pouring into the street. Pushing her back, Red produced a pistol from beneath his jacket. She watched as Red dropped two of them in quick succession. Gunfire erupted as he pushed her down behind a parked car.

"Red?"

"The US Embassy, Lizzie go."

She grabbed his lapel. "I am not leaving you," she screamed unable to stop the tears.

"Dammit, Lizzie, there is no time. Go!"

He popped up over their barricade to return fire, attempting to slow their attacker's progress across the street.

"Lizzie please," he yelled over the noise of gunfire, screeching tires and pedestrian screams.

His jaw clenched at the feel of Lizzie pressing herself into his back. At the loss of her warmth, he let out a savage yell moving out in the open emptying the clip into as many men as he could. He went down hard as a bullet ripped through his leg.

"Leave him, go for the girl."

The screamed direction reached through the haze of pain, pushing Red up on one leg. He lunged at the closest man, going for his throat, in his heart pleading with a God he had ceased to believe in to keep his Lizzie safe. Just as he felt the life ebbing out of his target a sharp pain exploded inside of Red's skull and everything went black.


End file.
